Maxtor 40 GB HD!

[aimunregistrd]

hey, how come my computer thinks that my MAXTOR 40 GB HD(I JUST BOUGHT IT) is only 31.4GB? and not 40GB? someone help?! thanks!

[stevarzo]

Is it Windows or the bios that reports 31 gigs?

[DREEMTHEEF]

Hi there mate.

What you are describing is exactly what happened to me. I got myself a 41Gb 7200 hard drive but my BIOS would limit it's size to 31Gb.
It was a while ago now and my memory doesn't stretch back that far. I think in my case the BIOS would see the new drive (2nd hard drive fitted as a slave) but Windows didn't see it and when I finally got Windows to see the new drive it was limited to about 31Gb. There were a large number of jumpers on the back of the drive, not just the box standard MA/SL/CS, one of the jumper options was to limit (clip) the size to 32Gb and that was the only setting that worked for me. I honestly can't remember what my final jumper setting was but using the prog mentioned below I got the full 41Gb

What you want to do to get the full 40Gb capacity is go to the IBM web site and download a program called Disk Manager 2000. It's about 6 and a bit Megs in size. That program will run you through how to get the full 40Gb from your drive. It has lots of handy functions for installing drives (both hard and CD) and one of the most useful is the ability to produce a start up floppy which is easy to use and will run you through how to install your new hard drive and get the full 40Gb.

That's what I did and I've had no problems at all.

Let me know how you got on and if you have any 'major' problems drop me an email or leave me a message on here, as I can email you the apps you need.

Have a dig about in the download section of the IBM web site, as that's where you'll find it (if my memory serves me correct!!)

G00D LuCk......DreeM

[oxygen99]

there might be a Jumper on the harddrive that limits it to 31 gigs , if its not that , its in the bios , or you will need a bios update , how old is the mobo ?

[desavedo]

You can use the Maxtor floppy which will install EZ bios but I've heard it slightly decreases performance. I would try to flash the bios if possible. If your system is a brand name, then contact your computer manufacturer to see if they have a bios upgrade? They would probably have it for download on their website too.

[sarahjh]

31 gig is a bios limit
BUT
Maxtor drives limit themselves to 31 gig if you put more than
1 jumper on the back (so u can use them in MACs)
Make sure only 1 jumper is on the back.

[shadoe_phantom]

I don't know what you're talking about sarahjh cause I have a maxtor 40G 7200rpm D740X type HDD & after upgrading (flashing) my bios for the motherboard, the right size was detected. Has nothing to do with MAC or PC types. Has everything to do with BIOS. Ofcourse some older motherboards might not even have it in their newest bios. Those are the breaks (time to upgrade).

[ryan5262]

I have got the same problem with the Ibm 40 Gig drive and i can't seem to get it to work at the 40 Gig.

That is my Only Drive and that is why i need that Extra 10 Gig
I know the mother borard can handle it and a lot more it is a
A Bit KG7 With Raid controlers.
thanks .

Ryan

[sarahjh]

phantom
Macs will only see a HD upto 31 gig in size
Maxtor have designed their large drives to work
with either PCs or MACs.
In order for the larger drives to work in MACs they had
to have some way of forcing their HDs to appear as
31 gigs. So they made them in such a way that if
you added a second jumper it would work in a MAC.
This meant if you put a second jumper on by mistake
your drive would appear to be 31 gigs.

Why don't you go over tho the maxtor website and read the
FAQ labelled "why is my HD appearing to be only 31gig"

Another fault caused by BIOS problems is to see large HDs
as SIZE-31 gigs, so an 80 gig hd may appear to be 49 gig
on some BIOS's

Lets assume this mobo does not have a 2 gig limit or that
the guy is formatting with an old version of fdisk (32gig limit)
etc., etc.

[shadoe_phantom]

sarahjh,
on the first post you said use 1 jumper, now you say there are 2 jumpers. Mine only comes with 1 jumper (not 2 & no extra lying around that came with it- that's their older models & have confirmed this with maxtor asia. perhaps diff in other countries).
The maxtor site also talks about their ATA133 capacity, which doesn't work past ATA100 (only on first innitial burst reads).
However thanks for the link & info. They are always appreciated here (got some new info there, if you can get past the BS)

[0grassman]

reports it as a 38.1 gig

[ryan5262]

I managed to fix the HD problem it was one of the jumpers it was

set to forced 32 gig I never noticed because of the double

stickers when I changed it over I had to go in to the disk

managements and it said it had found a extra 7 gig and I had to

partition it then format that extra 7 gig and give it a different

drive letter. Hope that is any help to any one. If you cant get it to

work email me at ryan_donaghy@ho**ail.com

[Shadey]

Thanx sarahjh and ryan5262

Its news to me - i didnt realise that they did something like this and it being down to a jumper setting on the harddrive.

I hope aimunregistrd sorts his drive out.